Educator tapped for regional board

June 22, 2009

KALAMAZOO--Dr. Walter L. Burt, assistant professor of educational leadership, research and technology at Western Michigan University, has been named to the board of directors of the Midwest Regional Educational Laboratories program.

Midwest Regional Educational Laboratories

REL Midwest is one of 10 Regional Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Educational Sciences. A nonpartisan resource, it provides expert advice to help educators and policymakers apply scientifically valid research to their decision making in Michigan as well as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Its members include legislative officials, members of state education associations, and representatives of such higher education institutions as Loyola and Ohio universities and the University of Chicago.

Burt came to WMU as a full-time faculty member in 2004. He previously had been project manager for California's Stupski Foundation, coordinating districtwide system changes to public schools in New Haven, Conn., and Paterson, N.H.

At WMU, Burt has been teaching numerous graduate-level courses, more than half of them in support of the University's new doctoral programs at Michigan off-campus sites in Oak Park, Marquette, Grand Rapids and Saginaw.

He also has been involved with numerous state, regional and national programs and grants. These include serving as a co-principal investigator for WMU's GEAR UP program, a research associate for the College of Education's Wallace Foundation grant, and a member of the Principals' Leadership Network, sponsored by the Education Alliance at Brown University and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

An adjunct WMU professor from 1988 to 1998, Burt also has taught at Aquinas College, Grand Valley State University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan as well as has served as a superintendent or assistant superintendent for Michigan school districts in Pontiac, Flint and Grand Rapids.

He earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Alcorn State University in 1967, a master's degree in educational administration from Eastern Michigan University in 1972 and a doctoral degree in educational administration from the University of Michigan in 1975.